This invention relates to a sealed package in which are sealed one or more pre-packaged disposable cotton-tipped liquid applying swabs or jelly or cream applying applicator sticks and the material to be applied by the heat portions thereof.
The pre-packaging of medicinal applicators like cotton tipped swabs and a liquid or cream-like material for use by doctors and medical technicians have heretofore been accomplished by enclosing one or a plurality of such applicators and a quantity of medicinal material to be applied by the head portions thereof within a flexible rupturable sack-like envelope. In those cases where the medicinal material is a liquid, it has generally been the practice to supply a substantial excess of such medicinal material so that there is a body of liquid within the envelope. While applicant knows of no such example, even if in such case the medicinal material is applied directly to the cotton-tip heads of these applicators in an amount just to saturate the same, the stacking or handling of such envelopes would create such pressures on the applicator heads that appreciable liquid would be forced from the heads thereof so a body of the liquid medicinal material would be present in the envelope. (Note that to under-saturate a cotton-tipped head could undesirably leave uncoated areas thereon, and to just saturate the head introduces a control problem which was probably not considered worth the effort involved.)
Such prior constructions have a number of disadvantages. First of all, the body of liquid material in the envelopes wets the handle portions of the swabs, making them sticky and unpleasant to handle. Additionally, when the presence of a body of liquid medicinal material was desirable for repeated application of such material by the same or different applicators, difficulty was encountered in storing the remaining contents of an opened envelope.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,375, it has been heretofore proposed to package disposable swab-type applicators in a tray having severable sections, wherein each section comprises a tray-forming body with a depression forming a well for receiving the head portion of a swab-type applicator and the excess of the liquid material to be dispensed thereby, and a depression for receiving the handle portion of the swabtype applicator. A seal-forming projection extends from the handle and sealingly fits within a depression in the tray to seal off the well from the handle-receiving depressions of the tray. A cover sheet sealing encloses the upper surface of the tray section involved and completes the sealing of the well-forming depression from the handle-receiving depression of the tray section. Such a swab-type applicator package is relatively costly to manufacture since it does not utilize a conventional inexpensive swab-type applicator. Also, the applicators disclosed therein are supported in a perfectly horizontal position in the tray and the cover sheet passes in the immediate vicinity of the applicator heads, so external compression forces on the applicator heads could squeeze medicinal material therefrom. Additionally, if the tray construction shown in this patent were modified to support a number of such swab-type applicators in a common tray where the handles thereof all are exposed in a single compartment for simultaneous removal and use by one hand, but with the heads thereof sealed in separate recesses as disclosed in the patent, the sealing fit required between the seal-forming projections of the swab applicators and the tray would prevent the easy removal of a number of swab-type applicators simultaneously from the tray.
Frequently, it is desired to use a number of applicators in a definite sequence as, for example, where it is desired to initially apply a disinfectant and cleaning material to a given area of the patient's body using one swab-type applicator, then remove the cleaning and disinfectant material from the area involved with a dry swab-type applicator, and then apply a medicinal preparation to the same area. In the prior art, such applicators to be used in succession were completely separately packaged and so the nurse or doctor had to select in the proper sequence the applicators from completely separate packages.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved package construction for one or more handled swabs or applicator sticks of conventional and/or inexpensive (as contrasted to an expensive special) construction and a medicinal material to be applied thereby, and wherein the construction and arrangement thereof are such that wetting of the handles by any excess medicinal material is eliminated or minimized.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved package construction for one or more handled swabs or applicator sticks of conventional and/or inexpensive (as contrasted to an expensive special) construction and a medicinal material to be applied thereby, and wherein the construction and arrangement thereof are such that the swabs or applicator sticks can be removed more easily from the package than in the case of the envelope packages or the sealed swabs of U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,375.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a package as described for a number of handled swabs or applicator sticks where upon the first opening of the package a number of handled swabs or applicator sticks may be easily simultaneously removed by one hand.
Another object of this invention is to provide a unique packaging system which facilitates the application of a number of different applicators to be applied in sequence to a given area of a patient's body.
A further object of this invention is to provide an improved package construction for a pre-packaged swab or applicator stick and material to be applied thereby as described, this is characterized by a simple and economical construction.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent as the description of this invention proceeds, reference being had to the drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention.